20 April 2009

10 Years Ago....

Ten Years ago a Terrible Tragedy Occured in Colorado.

On the morning of April 20, 1999, two Columbine seniors unleashed an attack with guns and pipe bombs killing 12 students and a teacher. A bigger bomb, which they hoped would destroy the crowded cafeteria, failed to go off.

The gunmen, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, committed suicide

Please Observe a Moment of Silence and Reflect this day with Prayer and Ask God to Protect our Schools and Teachers.

14 April 2009

Why do i get the feeling....

They Should have left what they found , BURIED!!

Look What They Dug Up in an Oasis!

They number in the dozens, these brightly painted mummies that are as much as 4,000 years old. Archaeologists working in an Egyptian oasis uncovered an ancient Egypt burial chamber containing 53 rock-hewn tombs that date to the Middle Kingdom, from 2061 to 1786 B.C.

"Four of the mummies date back to the 22nd Dynasty (931 to 725 BC) and are considered some of the most beautiful mummies found," Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief, told Agence France Presse. The mummies, all of which were wrapped in linen, were brightly painted in the traditional ancient Egyptian colors of turquoise, terracotta and gold.

Discovered near the Ilahun pyramid in Fayoum oasis south of Cairo, the necropolis also contained 15 painted masks, a Middle Kingdom funerary chapel with an offering table, amulets and clay pots.


I really have a bad feeling about this Discovery!!!

13 April 2009

Found this online....

Faith-Inspiring Biblical Discovery

When police raided suspected antiquity smugglers in Cyprus, they hit gold. Reuters reports that they found what authorities believe is an ancient version of the Bible written in Syriac, a dialect of the native language of Jesus Christ. The manuscript, which has excerpts of the Bible written in gold lettering on vellum, is about 2,000 years old. The pages are loosely strung together. On one of the pages is a drawing of a tree and eight lines of Syriac script. Jesus spoke Aramaic, and Syriac is a dialect of that. Once widely spoken across much of the Middle East and Central Asia, Syriac is still used in the Syrian Orthodox Church in India, while Aramaic is still used in religious rituals of Maronite Christians in Cyprus.

However there are two big questions: From where did the manuscript come? And is it an original? The answers to those questions mean it could be a priceless religious relic--or a complete fake. Experts said the use of gold lettering on the manuscript is one way to date it. "I'd suspect that it is most likely to be less than 1,000 years old," leading expert Peter Williams, warden of Tyndale House at the University of Cambridge, told Reuters.

In addition, J.F. Coakley, a manuscripts specialist at the University of Cambridge library and fellow of Wolfson College, told Reuters, "The Syriac writing seems to be in the East Syriac script with vowel points, and you do not find such manuscripts before about the 15th century. On the basis of the one photo...if I'm not mistaken some words at least seem to be in modern Syriac, a language that was not written down until the mid-19th century."

So where did the manuscript come from? Charlotte Roueche, a professor of Byzantine studies at King's College London, told Reuters, "One very likely source could be the Tur-Abdin area of Turkey, where there is still a Syriac speaking community." Also found along with the manuscript was a prayer statue and a stone carving of Jesus that is thought to be from a church in northern Cyprus, as well as dynamite. The police have charged the detainees with smuggling antiquities, illegal excavations and the possession of explosives.


www.reuters.org

10 April 2009

2 Fer or I realize I didn't Post Yesterday

Peter Cooper & Eric Brace

When:Friday, April 10 8:30pm
tickets: $10

Spartanburg natives Peter Cooper and Brian Ashley Jones return for a special double bill. Former Spartan Peter Cooper's new duo album with Eric Brace, You Don't Have To Like Them Both, has already topped the folk charts, and now it's climbing into the Top 10 of the Americana chart. Songwriting luminary Rodney Crowell said that the pair has "made a new record called You Don't Have To Like Them Both. Well, guess what? I like them both. Think of what you liked best about Gordon Lightfoot, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Gram Parsons and Roy Acuff, and then thank God these lads like each other well enough to offer up such a smoking good batch of songs." The Washington Post concluded, Eric Brace and Peter Cooper are in tune.

"Released last year, Cooper's Mission Door album earned praise from Kris Kristofferson, Tom T. Hall and others, and the album wound up on numerous year-end Top 10 lists. Brace is the leader of acclaimed Americana collective Last Train Home. This will be Brace's first time in Spartanburg, though he has heard practically every one of the Ashley Fly stories. Find out more about Peter and the new CD at Peter's site.

Brian Ashley Jones is a soulful singer, accomplished lead guitarist, and versatile songwriter. Described as "Blues Grass", Jones' music is heavily influenced by the guitar driven blues, bluegrass, folk, country, and rock that he absorbed growing up here in Spartanburg.

Now based in Nashville, Jones maintains an active touring schedule and performs about 150 live shows per year at festivals, concert series, radio shows, and songwriter venues as well as leading workshops around the country as part of Nashville Songwriters Association International's Pros On The Road program.

Mural Workshop with Ian Thomas

Please Join HUB-BUB and the Pine Street YMCA For a Mural Workshop with Ian Thomas

When? Saturday May1st and Sunday May 2nd.

10-5pm with a 1 hour lunch break

Where? The Pine Street YMCA

Cost? $100 (includes instruction and brush)

Ian F. Thomas spent his formative years in the foothills of Western Pennsylvania on family farm ground. He earned his BFA in Ceramic and Painting studies at Slippery Rock University and an MFA in Ceramics at Texas Tech University where he further explored his interest in sculpture, printmaking and paint while incorporating all of these mediums into his current portfolio. During his time at Slippery Rock, Ian had the opportunity to study abroad at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava Slovakia. Ian had the opportunity to refine his work while studying at The Pottery Workshop Residency in Jindezhen, China for six weeks in the summer of 2007. Most recently The Museum of Fine Art in Las Cruses New Mexico has purchased his work for their permanent collection. This past summer he was a Spout Fund Muralist completing a 40x90ft mural in the Strip District, Pittsburgh, PA.

During the May 1st and 2nd workshop, Ian will be showing three mural techniques: Projection, Grid, and Rasterized Images. We’ll be painting in the racquetball court which is currently being used for afterschool programming.


Registration is limited to the first 20 people to sign up.

Contact Alix at HUB-BUB to sign up and with questions. alix@hub-bub.com or 864.582.0056

08 April 2009

Life Lesson...Two Choices

Two Choices

What would you do? You make the choice.

Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?


Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.


As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over... The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first!

Run to first!' Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball. The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.


He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay' Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third!

Shay, run to third!' As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team 'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:

We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference.

We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.'

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:

Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.


You now have two choices:

1. Copy & paste

2. Forward

May your day, be a Shay Day.


Thanks to a Loyal Reader for sending me this Story...THANK YOU!!!

07 April 2009

Fun Facts about the Human Body

Did you know.....

- It takes your food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach...

- One human hair can support 3 kg (6.6 lb).

- Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.

- A woman's heart beats faster than a man's.

- There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet..

- Women blink twice as often as men.

- The average person's skin weighs twice as much as the brain.

- Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.

- If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.

06 April 2009

Less than O'tay.....

After a week off I have Returned....and The Following Information Seems to be that Our Gang didnt have the perfect life...Read On....

The Little Rascals: Whatever happened to those people?

In case you forgot who is who.

Well, here it is...


The Our Gang Curse

Alfalfa -- Carl Switzer was shot to death at age 31.

Chubby -- 300-pound Norman Chaney died at age 22 following an operation.

Buckwheat -- William Thomas died at age 49 of a heart attack.

Darla Hood -- The Our Gang leading lady contracted hepatitis and died at age 47.

Brisbane -- Kendall McCormas, known as Breezy Brisbane, committed suicide at age 64.

Froggy-- William Robert Laughline was killed in a motor scooter accident at age 16.

Mickey Daniels -- Robert Blake was accused of murdering his wife.
Did you know that was Robert Blake?

Stymie -- Mathew Bear led a life of crime and drugs. He died of a stroke at age 56.

Scotty Beckett -- He died at age 38 following a brutal beating.

Weezer -- Robert Hutchins was killed in an airplane accident at age 19.

Pete the Pup -- He was poisoned by an unknown assailant.

Butch -- Currently lives in California

And

Spanky...Died of Liver Disease at age 55

A Big Thank you to a Loyal Reader for sending me this.....THANK YOU!!!